EAPC is proud to be organiser of the Polaris Awards, a global competition for campaigners, campaign managers, leaders, innovators and exceptional work within the political communications, elections campaigning and public affairs industries.

Polaris Awards will be presented in Athens, Greece on May 31st, 2019.

Why Polaris?

Polaris is another name of North Star - Pole Star, the brightest star visible in the north hemisphere. The Polaris Awards brand pays reference to the Pole Star which has guided humanity for thousands of years with its bright light and led forth many explorers, conquerors, leaders and nations.

As the Pole Star showed leaders the way in the past, so political advisors guide the candidates, political parties, movements and leaders of today.

Henceforward, EAPC will award the political advisors, campaign managers, communication directors, candidates, political parties, creative teams, digital experts, media planners, governments and NGO’s based on the successful campaigns they organised in their countries and through this award, it will support them to be more reputable.

FLD01 Absentee Program FLD02 GOTV Program FLD03 Best Use of Analytics FLD04 Voter ID Program FLD05 Walk/Handout Piece

FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGNS

FNR01 Best Use of Direct Mail FNR02 Best Use of Email FNR03 Best Use of Social Media FNR04 Best Use of Website/Donation Page FNR05 Best Use of Phones FNR06 Best PAC/Super PAC Fundraising FNR07 Best NGO Fundraising FNR08 Best Fundraising Gift for Donation FNR09 Best Fundraising Event

All companies and / or individuals involved in the campaigning / creative / strategic / advocacy process are eligible to enter.

As a piece of work is a collaborative effort, potentially created by more than one company, Polaris Awards organizer allows multiple entrants. Our rules for multiple entrants are as follows:

If a company has more than one office working on a particular piece of work and both offices wish to be listed as the entrant and not just the company, each office is responsible for entering and paying separately.

As almost all Entries have several types of companies involved (i.e. Production, Design, Digital), Polaris Awards organizer allows each of those companies to enter and pay a separate entry fee.

THE GRAND JURY

An international jury from consulting companies, digital companies, PR & PA companies, direct mailing and field companies, creative and media agencies, production houses, design houses and technology companies worldwide are invited to judge by online panels. The judges are comprised of the most talented, recognized and awarded individuals / companies from within their respective fields.
If you are interested in being a 2019 Polaris Contest Jury member, please apply! If your judge application is approved, you will receive an email with further instructions.

WINNERS NOTIFICATION

All judging takes place online by The Grand Jury members over two weeks period, before EAPC’s Annual Conference in Athens.

EAPC will inform you if you are selected as a 2019 Polaris Award winner, but will keep your winning entry and award level confidential until the 2019 Polaris Awards Ceremony on May 31, 2019.

After the winners are announced, EAPC will issue a press release and email it to the EAPC database of members and related entities. All winners will be published on the EAPC website and in relevant trade publications.

The entrant company will be named alongside the winning work, at the awards show and will receive trophies and certificates, where appropriate.

Replicas for the trophies can be purchased by other companies or individuals credited on the work, after the Award Show.

ELIGIBILITY

Work submitted must be broadcast, published, uploaded or released in a campaigning environment with client approval on or after November 1, 2017.

All work submitted must be in the exact form it was broadcast, published or released with all the logos, trademarks and copy marks intact, regardless of category or medium. Work must not be altered for submission purposes.

Any work created solely for the purpose of entering this competition is not eligible.

In the case of a query by the Jury, the entrant will be required to provide documentary evidence to prove eligibility of an entry.

Polaris Awards organizer will not allow media to be changed once judging starts.

There can only be one entrant company per entry. The entrant company is responsible for the payment of entry fees and will be considered the entry’s sole contact. Multiple companies can be credited for their contribution to the work entered.

All entries must be submitted online through our web portal. Creatives or documents used in the entries must not include the name of those submitting the work. In order to protect anonymity and fair judging, please do not indicate the name of person, company or organization submitting the entry.

Entrants must not enter work which has been banned or withdrawn from airing. If found to be entered it will be cancelled by Polaris Awards with no refund.

Works must be submitted exactly as published, aired or implemented and must not be modified for entry.

Works must be aired, launched or released to the public for the first time on or after November 1, 2017.

In the event that a campaign runs over an extended period of time with multiple implementation dates, it is the responsibility of the entrant to provide proof of the campaign’s adequate evolution from year to year.

Entries cannot be made without the permission of the client and/or owner of the rights of the work.

All entries must have been created for a paying client except pro-bono work for charities and non-profit organizations.

If your entry is not in English, you have to provide a translation or detailed synopsis in the space provided on the online entry form.

Work which is not in English can be translated or subtitled exactly as it was published or aired.

Voiceovers can be translated but visible speech must be kept in the original language and subtitled. For radio categories, translations are to be uploaded as a PDF document. For TV categories, translations should be included. Subtitles should be clearly legible. For Website categories, translate only relevant menu selections, headlines, and text.

Case films must be in English.

Digital and physical materials must be submitted without any reference to your company or any contributing companies or persons as judging is anonymous.

Entry media, including primary uploads and all supporting media must be final when the entries are submitted.

No replacement or additional media will be accepted after entries have been finalized and received by Polaris Awards organizer.

Creative team credits will be published on our website as appears on your entry from.

Entrants must submit their work according to our entry deadlines. This allows sufficient time for entries to be processed and reviewed, and for any issues to be resolved.

Entrants are not permitted to enter work which is in breach of the rules above.

Polaris Awards organizer may at any time request media scheduling details, client confirmation in writing or any other further information needed to verify the authenticity of a piece of work.

In the event of a complaint against any winning or shortlisted entry, Polaris Awards organizer will conduct an investigation into each case and will request detailed documentation from all parties concerned including the complainant, the entrants and the client. If the complaint is upheld, entries and, if applicable, awards, will be withdrawn accordingly.

Polaris Awards organizer reserves the right to disqualify works which breach any of Polaris Awards rules.

CANCELLATIONS, REFUNDS AND WITHDRAWALS

No refunds on entry fees after entries are finalized.

If entrants withdraw work they paid for from Polaris Awards the following options are available to them:

Submit a replacement entry to the same or alternative categories, up to the final published deadline.

Use the credit at a future EAPC event.

THE ORGANIZER WITHDRAWALS AT ANY TIME:

Polaris Awards organizer may withdraw ineligible work from the competition at any time before or after the official deadline. If the Polaris Awards organizer withdraws any paid entries, the following options are available to the entrant:

Submit a replacement entry to the same category or an alternative category, until the deadline.

Use the credit at a future EAPC event.

Polaris Awards organizer may refuse or withdraw entries, at anytime if the entries:

Breach laws, regulations or codes of practice.

Offend national sentiments, religious sentiments or public taste.

Do not meet our eligibility date ruling.

In any other way contradict the codes of practice upheld by the Polaris Awards.

Polaris Awards organizer withdrawal reasons include, but are not limited to the following:

The work has been entered too many times

The work is in the wrong category.

The work is illegal.

The work has been deemed ineligible for the competition rules.

CATEGORIES

You can submit the same entry in more than one category to increase your chance of winning. However you have to pay a separate fee for each entry. 2019 Polaris Awards has two main categories:

Regular categories mean one piece of work per entry.

Overall categories mean more than one piece of work per entry.

JUDGING PROCESS

2019 Contest judging will take place between May 1 - May 12, 2019. Judges may not evaluate any categories to which they have submitted work.

At the conclusion of the judging period each judge’s score will be averaged with those from all other judges evaluating the same Polaris entry. Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards may be awarded from highest score to third place at the sole discretion of the judges.

ENTRY SPECIFICATIONS

Here are the accepted file formats for your entries:

Images:

JPG/JPEG, GIF or PNG

15MB (Max: 1500x1500px)

Documents:

PDF, DOC, DOCX, PPT or PPTX

200MB

Audio:

MP3 or AAC

300MB

Video:

MP4 (H.264,AAC) or Video URL

300MB (Max: 1920x1080px)

POLARIS TROPHY

The trophies will be sent to the address provided in the entry. Trophies will be shipped at the conclusion of the 2019 Polaris Awards & Conference.

Please make sure to provide the accurate names/information in the entry. The EAPC will not replace trophies with inaccurate information unless the information on the trophy does not match the entry.

BE A JUDGE

With Polaris, EAPC is honoring successful advisors, campaigners, communication directors, candidates, parties, creative teams, digital experts, media planners, governments and NGO’s throughout the world, based on the campaigns they organized in their countries. The contest is open to anyone and everyone regardless of their geographic location and entries will be judged by a global team of industry professionals and politicians.

If you believe that you qualify to be a member of the global judging team for Polaris Awards, please send us your application through the form below. We will thoroughly evaluate every candidate and get back to them before the closing date of the awards submissions.

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